Today’s meditation was just under fifteen minutes long and focused on pain management. This is a topic that I am extremely well versed in and honestly? There wasn’t anything particularly new in the meditation that isn’t already a part of my own pain management practices.
The theme had to do with not just using the breath and meditation to work through pain, but to appreciate pain for what you can learn from it and how it makes you stronger. Sometimes, in the middle of pain, just as in the middle of a crisis, it is difficult to see where there may be some sort of benefit from the experience. Some people, I know, are unable to find that benefit even after it all has ended.
I personally believe that one of the major lessons to be learned in this incarnation of mine is to allow difficulties to strengthen me, and accept the hardships, struggles, and even the life-altering tragedies and moments of victimization as a part of my development into someone better… something better.
Today’s draw is the “Acknowledging Apprehension” card of the Healing Mantra Deck.
The purpose of this card and its mantra is to assist in teaching one how to step forward into a direction in times of apprehensive uncertainty.
In the book for this deck, it explains that as you identify and acknowledge apprehension in yourself, you can then “recognize that either it is your heart trying to warn you of an old choice or pattern you’re about to repeat, or it is a sense of unworthiness that makes you unsure about” moving forward.
The message here is that the more you are able to acknowledge that your apprehension is there, and the more often that you are able to discern which of the two above mentioned scenarios are applicable, the more adept you become in stepping past the clouds of uncertainty apprehension can create and into a sense of clarity that fosters decisive action.
DECK USED: HEALING MANTRA DECK
#TarotForGrowthApril Challenge Prompt
Question: Root Cause of this time of transition and my reactions to it. (built off yesterday’s cards)
Reading Summary: I’m hurting myself (Three of Scrolls) by focusing too hard on my more material goals (Ten of Stones) and the new emotions I’ve been experiencing (Ace of Mirrors) are spurring a gradual change (Death).
Take Away: Home and financial stability is my biggest focus when it comes to goals, and that’s not really much of a surprise. The cards here indicate that I have become so focused upon those goals for so long that I’ve become used to using them to avoid my inner well-being. The new level of emotional awareness I’ve been growing into is reaching a point where changes are inevitable and, in fact, needed in order to continue in my growth.
DECK USED: CHRYSALIS TAROT
#DiscordTarotholicsApr2020 Challenge Prompt
Question: What is the most important lesson I need to learn this month?
Reading Summary: It’s okay to be soft sometimes (Queen of Cups), even in times when strength of will (King of Wands) and clarity of thought (King of Swords) is needed.
Take Away: There is a certain kind of strength in softness and emotions. There’s strength in knowing yourself and being in a place where your emotions do more than create a whirlwind of confusion but actually foster a sense of stability all their own. The important lesson I need to learn this month is that emotions do not have to detract from my other strengths… instead they can reinforce and bolster and nurture my strength of will and clarity of thought… If I can accept it.
DECK USED: UNIVERSAL CELTIC TAROT
#ConnectWithYourDeckChallenge by E Roebuck-Jones
Question: What is something I am proud of in my life?
Reading Summary: My independence (Three of Cups Rx) and sense of purpose (The Emperor) that, through times of change (Death), allows me to ride through those changes in life and use them as an opportunity for growth (The World).
Take Away: This is more like two things… or maybe two things rolled into one thing like a chocolate and creme Ho-Ho. It’s about adaptability and persistence. It’s about taking what comes and rolling with it. That’s something that’s not always easy, and doesn’t even always go smoothly. Yet in retrospect I continue to do it regardless of what tries to knock me off my feet along the way, or how many times I land on my ass and have to pick myself back up.
DECK USED: MARUCO ANIMAL TAROT
#MidnightTarotChallenge Prompt
Question: What is my relationship with my body? How can I improve it?
Reading Summary: Too much good times (Three of Cups). Instead of unproductive good times with others, utilize their presence and work together with them (Three of Pentacles over The Hermit).
Take Away: I have not been working out, and there are things I could be doing… but have been lax about starting, let alone doing regularly. If I want to rectify this issue, I need to stop being lax and reach out to L and Z to help me get motivated and assist me in getting to work.
The Tower Rx jumped out at the end of this reading as I was putting cards away to tell me… “Don’t freak out, this isn’t the end of the world.”
DECK USED: UNIVERSAL CELTIC TAROT
Today’s meditation was just over fifteen minutes long and was not a guided meditation. Instead, I spent the meditation first taking time to focus upon my breath, and then expanded my focus to the expansion and contraction of my personal energy, allowing my energy to stretch outward further and further, then pulling it back in again in slow increments. It is a bit like stretching, but for your energy instead of your body.
Today’s meditation was just under eleven minutes long, and focused upon a breathing activity that was very similar to a body scan. That is to say that it actually was a body scan, but instead of just consciously checking in with each area of the body, the meditation involved using the breath to breathe in healing energy into each part of the body along the way, and then into the body as a whole once each part had been tended to individually.
Twisting the Leaf 